The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team scored the first 14 points and 17 of the first 19 on its way to defeating Bard College 89-49 in a Liberty League game at East Campus Arena. With the victory, the Engineers have now won 13 straight games and are 13-2 overall. They are 8-0 in conference play. The Raptors drop to 0-14 and 0-8.

Senior Mitchel Wayand made three three-pointers in the first two-and-a-half minutes to help RPI stake its 14 point lead, which grew to as many as 30 in the first half. Rensselaer shot 56 percent (18 of 32) from the floor, including 7 of 12 from behind the arc (56.3%), in the first 20 minutes, while also forcing 16 turnovers. The Engineers outscored Bard 22-0 on points from turnovers in building a 48-24 lead at the break. 

Sophomore Dom Black made a pair of layups to start the second half to increase RPI's lead to 52-24 before Elliot Harris hit a three-pointer for Bard. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes before a 7-0 Rensselaer run made it a 30-point difference.

Five Engineers reached double figures with sophomore Mason Memmelaar leading the way with 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting. He also had five rebounds and four steals. Wayand scored 17 points with the help of five three-pointers and Patrick Mahoney scored 14. Jeffrey Coulter had 12 points and four rebounds and Black finished with 10 points. Seven others got on the scoresheet for RPI, which finished with 32 points from turnovers with the help of 26 turnovers and 15 steals. 

Bard was led by Harris, who had 18 points and five rebounds. Stamatis Koulouris and Tyler Burns both scored 10 points, while Stefanos Psarras notched eight points and six rebounds.

The Raptors, who are in the midst of seven straight road games, play at Skidmore College on Friday at 7:30pm. RPI plays at Vassar College on the same day at the same time. Both games are Liberty League contests.